Spicy Chocolate Cookies

This awesome cookie recipe is adapted from the OatmealCookie Blog's recipe called Hot(ter) Chocolate cookies. The main change I made was to substitute whole spelt flour for the finely ground oatmeal and white spelt for the all-purpose flour. You could do the same thing with whole wheat and white whole wheat flour, as well. Another change I made was to sprinkle some more grated milk chocolate on top of the cookies while they are cooling. This gives them a little melted chocolate flavor that goes well with this chewy cookie. These cookies have an awesome chocolate flavor, enhanced by lots of cinnamon and a little...cayenne pepper! Don't worry, these won't make steam come out of your ears or require extra applications of deodorant...but they might require sharing so you don't eat them all!

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(I halved the recipe, which originally makes 4 dozen.)

Spicy Chocolate Cookies

makes 2 dozen cookies

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Creamables:

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/8 cup cocoa powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

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Wet Ingredients:

1 egg

3/4 tsp cinnamon (extract if you have it; I just added more ground cinnamon)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

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Dry Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whole spelt flour (or whole wheat)

1/2 cup finely ground graham crackers

3/4 cup white spelt flour (or white whole wheat)

1/3-1/2 cup cinnamon chips

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1.25 ounces milk chocolate, grated finely; make extra for sprinkling after baking

.5 ounce unsweetened baking chocolate, grated finely

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

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Topping: turbinado sugar

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Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables; the butter, sugars, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk together the wet ingredients and add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth. In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.

Preheat oven to 350*F. Shape dough into balls -- about 2 tablespoons each. Roll each ball in turbinado sugar. Place sugared balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes or until edges of cookies spring back to the touch. Remove cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes, then place cookies on wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Happy Friday Mini Muffins

I decided to take a Happy Friday treat in to work this week...on Friday of course. I decided to make some mini muffins. Who doesn't love super cute and yummy bites of muffiny goodness? I wanted to make two kinds, to give my lovely co-workers a little variety in their lives. The first kind I made were mocha chip (made with whole wheat flour), and cinnamon chip (which called for baking mix, and all I had was Bisquick, so no whole grains there...) Both were delicious and got eaten in record time. I left five of the cinnamon chip muffins on the cooling rack for my husband to eat when he got home from work, and they were gone when I got home. He loved them! I might change the mocha chip recipe and substitute more white whole wheat flour for the oats...I found that the chewiness of the oats distracted from the moist, dense texture of the rest of the muffins. I would like to try the cinnamon chip muffins with a whole grain recipe, because they had a wonderful flavor and cinnamon chips are very tasty! (I got my cinnamon chips from King Arthur Flour.)

Cafe Mocha Mini Muffins from the Taste of Home website
2 tsp instant coffee granules
1/3 cup boiling water
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
3 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
In a small bowl, dissolve coffee granules in water. Stir in the oats; set aside. In a small bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Beat in reserved oat mixture. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to oat mixture. Stir in 1/3 cup chocolate chips.
Fill greased mini muffin cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle with remaining mini chips. Bake at 350* for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Yield: 18 mini muffins


Cinnamon Chip Mini Muffins from the Hershey's website (though I didn't use Hershey's cinnamon chips...)
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose biscuit baking mix
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup cinnamon chips
2/3 cup milk

Directions:
Heat oven to 350*F. Grease a mini muffin pan, or two if you have two of them. Stir together the baking mix, sugar, vegetable oil, egg, cinnamon chips, and milk in a medium bowl - just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove to cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 32 mini muffins

Tiramisu

This recipe is an adaptation of a Tiramisu recipe found in the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion cookbook. This is not a whole grain recipe; I made it with white spelt flour. It can be made with whole wheat pastry flour for a whole grain version, but I was making a wheat-free dessert for today. I also substituted Neufchatel cheese for the mascarpone/cream cheese called for in the filling (it's one-third less fat than cream cheese). I also reduced the cocoa powder on the top of the cake and added more shaved chocolate to the other two layers.
It does take a bit of time to make the cake, make the filling, assemble it all, and chill for a few hours before serving - but I assure you that the end result will be well worth it! I learned that tiramisu means "pick me up" in Italian, and this moist, creamy, flavorful cake will do just that for you and anyone you deem worthy enough to share a piece with...

Sponge Cake
3/4 cup white spelt flour (or whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400*F. Line the bottom of a 10x15 inch jelly roll pan (or cookie sheet with a lip at least one inch high) with waxed paper or parchment paper. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Sprinkle in the sugar gradually, beating all the while, and continue beating until the batter is very thick and light lemon in color, 3 to 8 minutes. The batter will have doubled in volume. Just before you stop beating the batter, add the vanilla. Gently fold in the flour mixture, using a rubber spatula or whisk. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 12 to 14 minutes, until it's golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove the cake from the oven and transfer the cake onto a wire rack. Place another wire rack on top of the cake and flip it over. Carefully remove the parchment or wax paper and let cake cool completely on wire rack.

Mascarpone (or Neufchatel) Filling
1 pound (two 8-oz. packages) mascarpone OR cream cheese OR Neufchatel cheese
(If using cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, also add 2 tablespoons of sour cream)
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 1/2 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat the cheese until soft. Add the cream, sugar, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Refrigerate the filling until you're ready to assemble the cake.

Other Ingredients Needed:
1/2 cup espresso or coffee-flavored liqueur (I used espresso powder and hot water to make espresso)
1 teaspoon cocoa (KAF recommends Dutch-process and uses a tablespoon but I don't like that much)
1/2 cup (or more) grated or curled semi-sweet or milk chocolate

To Assemble the Dessert:
Cut the cake into three 5x10 pieces (I used a pizza cutter and it worked quite well.) Brush each slice with the espresso. Let the cake sit for a few minutes to absorb the liquid, and then brush it again. Place one slice on a serving platter and top it with one-third of the filling and some chocolate curls, top it with a second layer and another third of the filling and more chocolate curls, then place the third layer of the cake on top. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining filling, dust with the cocoa, and top with more chocolate curls for garnish. Wrap the cake well and refrigerate it for several hours (or overnight) before serving.

Raspberry Crunch Cookies

These cookies have a great raspberry flavor, due to the dried raspberries, the raspberry jam, and the raspberry extract! I got the recipe from the Oatmeal CookieBlog (I printed out about 20 recipes to try because they look amazing and some are different - like Earl Grey cookies...hmm?) Here's the link to the recipe on his blog. This recipe makes 4 dozen cookies, so you can halve it to make only 2 dozen if you would like. Also, it is a little expensive to get all the ingredients for these cookies, since you most likely won't have them sitting around (at least I didn't). Raspberry extract was rather hard to find -- I finally found it at TOP Foods after trying several other grocery stores. The dried raspberries I found at Whole Foods (I used Just Tomatoes brand with no added sweeteners). But, even after all that, these cookies are fairly simple to make and bake up beautifully. They would be excellent paired with some vanilla bean ice cream. I just might have to go get some...

Raspberry Graham Cracker Crunch Cookies
Creamables:
2 sticks butter (or ICBINB sticks)
2 cups dark brown sugar

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
1/3 cup raspberry jam
1 tablespoon raspberry extract
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients:
4 cups dried raspberries
2 1/2 cups finely ground graham crackers
2 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies (or any puffed rice cereal)
1 1/4 cups [white whole wheat] flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Topping:
3/4 - 1 cup turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 350*F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well-incorporated. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Shape dough into balls - about 2 tablespoons each. Roll each dough ball evenly in turbinado sugar. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove cookie sheets from oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.
A variation I thought of for next time: skip rolling the balls in turbinado sugar and bake as normal. When cooled, drizzle cookies with melted white chocolate. Yum!

Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread

This bread is amazing - quick and delicious! It tastes like a cinnamon roll, but in bread form. The texture is spongy, light, and a little bit moist - kind of like a coffee cake. I found this recipe on Recipezaar (#92016) and adapted it slightly (used white whole wheat, tried "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" in stick form for baking). Also, I don't keep buttermilk on hand so I used Baker's Secret buttermilk powder, which keeps in the fridge for a long time. You add the buttermilk powder in with the dry ingredients, and add water when the recipe says to add in the buttermilk. So, even with my experimentation, it turned out very yummy! My husband had several pieces for breakfast and several more when he got home from work...so be careful - the loaf doesn't last very long. (And it's kinda hard to slice a thin piece...besides the fact that no one wants a thin piece anyway!)

Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread

Time: 1 hour; 10 minutes prep

Makes 1 loaf (9x5 loaf pan)

1/4 cup butter, softened (I used this instead)

1 1/3 cups sugar, divided

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk (or buttermilk powder)

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (this kind is amazing!)

Preheat oven to 350*F. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, 1 cup sugar, and the egg. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Pour one-third of the batter into a greased 9x5-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle a third of the cinnamon sugar on top of the batter. Repeat layers twice.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy with coffee and strawberries for a delightful breakfast!

Cake Doughnuts

A few weekends ago, I bought a doughnut pan at Mrs. Cook's in U-Village to make baked doughnuts. I figured this holiday today would be a great time to crack it out. I won't go overboard on the holiday theme and drizzle the glaze in the likeness of all the Presidents, or anything...ha ha) I was not sufficiently pleased with the recipe attached to the pan -- it had a lot of typos, so I wasn't impressed. I did a recipe search online and found a few recipes for use with a doughnut pan, but managed to lose the whole grain one I had printed out. So this morning, I used the recipe from allrecipes.com entitled "Fluffy Cake Doughnuts" and adapted for my own usage. Pretty much the only change I made was to substitute 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour and 1 cup of all-purpose flour for the 2 cups of flour it calls for. I may try using more whole wheat flour in the future, but on the first run I usually err on the side of caution and try to avoid brick-food at all costs...
These doughnuts are good! They are a little "heavier" than traditional doughnuts, but not too much. The texture is still like a cake doughnut, and the whole wheat pastry flour makes for a soft crumb. They have a delicate spiced flavor with nutmeg and cinnamon, and the almond extract in the glaze finishes out the taste experience very nicely. Feel free to add whatever toppings you have on hand -- I used sprinkles and cinnamon sugar in addition to the glaze in the recipe. Other ideas might be: shredded coconut, melted chocolate glaze, powdered sugar, jelly, or chopped/sliced nuts.
Ok, enough blah-blah-blah, here's the recipe!

Whole Grain Cake Doughnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp shortening

Glaze: 1 cup confectioner's sugar, 2 tbsp hot water, and 1/2 tsp almond extract (I used half of these amounts and had enough to glaze 10 of the 12 doughnuts).

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325*F. Spray a doughnut pant with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in milk, eggs, vanilla, and shortening. Beat together until well blended.
Fill each doughnut cup approximately 3/4 full. (You can use a spoon to spoon it in, but you will get more uniform donuts if you use a pastry bag or plastic bag with a corner cut off to pipe it into the cups. I tried both ways, and the bag way makes them look nicer!)
Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until doughnuts spring back when touched. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.
To make the glaze, blend confectioners' sugar, hot water, and almond extract in a small bowl. Dip doughnuts in glaze before serving.

Nutritional Info: 173 calories and 2.3 grams of fat per doughnut, glazed. (Compare to a Krispy Kreme Traditional Cake Doughnut at 220 calories and 13 grams of fat!)

S'more Cookies

This is another great cookie recipe from the Oatmeal CookieBlog - see link below. The only changes I made were to substitute white whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour and to halve the recipe (which made 4 dozen cookies!) for this blog posting.
The most important thing in this recipe is to FREEZE YOUR MINI MARSHMALLOWS! For a while. Probably overnight would be good, but at least a few hours. Or you will have a huge mess.
These cookies are a great rendition of the old campfire s'mores, but can be just as messy...so be careful! These definitely are not super healthy, but they do taste great! More healthy postings to come soon, I promise...

S'more Cookies
makes 2 dozen cookies

Creamables:
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup white sugar

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup finely ground graham crackers
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup frozen mini marshmallows

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables (the butter and brown and white sugar). In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk together the wet ingredients and add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Shape dough into balls - about 2 tbsp each. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on a Silpat or parchment-paper lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Be very careful not to overbake them. They will probably look underdone to you after 10 minutes, but take them out of the oven and leave them on the cookie sheet for another 2-3 minutes before trying to put them on a wire rack to cool.

Link to Oatmeal CookieBlog: http://oatmealcookie.typepad.com/the_oatmeal_cookie_blog/2010/02/the-listupdated.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OatmealCookieBlog+%28Oatmeal+CookieBlog%29

Cranberry-Almond Whole Wheat Biscotti

I've never made biscotti before, so this week I looked up a few recipes to see what kinds of ingredients are used, and how they could be made healthfully! Most of the recipes used butter or oil, but this one uses only eggs to hold the dry ingredients together, so very low in fat! This biscotti recipe is very easy to mix up and bake, and holds together very well during the slicing and the second baking time. I found this recipe online on another blog, http://avecgourmandise.blogspot.com. I made this recipe twice this week, and even made my own variation of it with cinnamon chips and raisins - see end of recipe. You can definitely mix and match whatever (dry) mix-in ingredients you have on hand (in the same amount as the original recipe). I think next time I will try lemon and dried blueberries or cashew and dried cherries!

Cranberry Almond Whole Wheat Biscotti

Ingredients:
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sliced and toasted almonds

1/4 cup dried cranberries

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Mix together flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Mix in the nuts and cranberries. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the eggs and extracts. Add to the flour mixture; stir until combined. With floured hands, shape the dough into a loaf about 1 inch thick and 4 inches wide. Transfer to baking sheet.

Bake until risen and firm, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 300 degrees F. Let the loaf cool on a cutting board for about 10 minutes, then cut diagonally into 1/2" slices. Arrange slices cut-side down and bake 10 minutes, then turn slices over and bake until dried, about 10 minutes more. Remove from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Nutritional info: about 70 calories per piece; very low in fat

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Cinnamon chip/Raisin variation

add 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients

replace the toasted almonds with cinnamon chips

replace the dried cranberries with raisins (if they are large, cut in half)

add an addition 1/4 tsp of vanilla and omit the almond extract

Mix and bake as described above

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Pumpkin Flax Bread

I ripped this recipe out of my husband's favorite periodical, the Boeing Wellness newsletter. Actually he usually just puts it straight in the recycle. But I happened to glance through it and found this healthy recipe.

My bread turned out moist and the bottom of it was a little doughy still (I think because I had to substitute sugar and molasses for brown sugar, and it made it too wet...) But, other than that, it tastes great. I enjoyed it even more when it had chilled in the fridge for a while. It's excellent paired with some Neufchatel or cream cheese.

Also, my bread was darker than this picture (I didn't use that recipe), with flecks in it from the flax meal...

Pumpkin Flax Bread

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup water

1 cup brown sugar

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray and coat lightly with flour. Mix the flaxseed and water in a food processor. Add the brown sugar and pumpkin and process until combined. Mix the all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serves 16; 130 calories per serving

*To make your own pumpkin pie spice, combine:

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

(you still need to measure the 1 1/2 tsp for the recipe, this makes 2 tsp)

Cranberry Crunch Cookies

I found this awesome recipe on the Oatmeal CookieBlog - see link below to check it out.
I made it exactly as described, but substituted white whole wheat for the all-purpose flour.
These cookies are SO good! Like I think this is the best cookie I have ever made good. I took them to work today and they were gone before afternoon break, and several people requested the recipe. The only reason I took them to work in the first place is so I wouldn't eat them all! So, needless to say, these cookies are an excellent combination of tart (cranberry and orange) and sweet (almonds, brown sugar, and graham cracker crumbs) and have a wonderful crunchy outside and a chewy inside. Mmmmmmmmmmm! Okay, now for the award-winning recipe...

Creamables:
1 stick butter
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
1 1/2 tsp orange juice

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups dried cranberries (craisins)
1 cup finely ground graham crackers
1 cup toasted slivered almonds
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup (white whole wheat) flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Topping: turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 350*F. In Kitchen Aid or large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
Shape dough into balls -- about 2 tbsp each. Roll each ball in turbinado or raw sugar. Place sugared balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. (I flattened mine a little with a wooden spoon.)
Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Makes 3 dozen.

Also, you can add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp almond extract to the wet ingredients if you have it on hand. (I will try that next time.)

I might try substituting something else for some of the butter next time too...I'll let you know how that goes!

Here's the link for the Oatmeal Cookie Blog (other great cookie recipes to try!):
(http://oatmealcookie.typepad.com/the_oatmeal_cookie_blog/)